In many situations one can have little access to fresh water, but large access to sea water. Examples of this can be small island communities, ships travelling long distances without land contact and platforms or similar installations at sea.
Today, there are several types of desalination installations to provide freshwater from sea water, as for example described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,676 and WO 93/10048. Both these installations utilize a system similar to common heat exchangers as the sea water is evaporated and the damp is compressed and condensed.
Most known desalination installations have a relatively complex structure, therefore they are expensive to make and to operate. Parts of the installations also require frequent shutdowns and maintenance, which further contributes to costs. Most often, the sea water corrodes different parts of the installation, and thus at intervals some parts must be replaced.